HEALING PRACTICES IN THE COLONIAL AMAZON REGION: FROM THE CURING OF THE SOUL TO THE CURING OF THE BODY (1707-1750)

Abstract

This present article analyzes the epidemics that spread across the state of Maranhão and Grão Pará in the first half of the 18th century, when two large epidemic outbreaks affected dramatically the indigenous population, with high rate of mortality. Due to the indigenous population decrease, the colonists were affected by lack of work force. Besides that, there was the need for professional healers, a fact that led the priests to become “physi­cians” of the soul and the body. The article further analyses the curative practices in the Portuguese America and the relations among the curative knowledge of European, Indigenous and African peoples. The analysis was based on historical documents of the collections of the Overseas Historical Archive, Annals of the National Library (volume 67), Annals of the Public Archive of Pará State and the writings of the Jesuit priest João Daniel and of the French traveler Charles-Marie de La Condamine. Keywords: Colonial Amazon, epidemics, curative practices.